Spotting innovation: what geeks do in the weekend

If you only have change to listen to one podcast, then my recommendation would have to be the Tim Ferriss Show; it’s insightful, informative and also lots of fun. And if you only have time for one episode, then I would recommend the one with Marc Andreesson. OK, that might be a bit unfair as I’ve only listened to a few, but I’ve just finished the one with Marc and it’s just awesome.

Marc is one of the seminal figures in Silicon Valley history, having helped create some of the major players in the industry. He is now co-founder of venture capital firm Andresson Horowitz, helping shape some of the companies of tomorrow. The podcast runs through a whole bunch of interesting topics, from tales of the Valley, all the way to the role of conflict in an organisation, to new and emerging technologies like drones and blockchain based companies. There was one point however that stuck with me more than many of the others.

At one point, Tim asks Marc how their company looks for the next big thing, the next thing to invest in, the next thing that’s going to change our world. Marc mentions that the next big thing is something that is considered fringe nowadays, but that will manage to make the leap into the mainstream (Crossing the Chasm?). In order to spot these trends, they ask themselves ‘what do the nerds/geeks do in the weekend?’ In other words, forgetting the activities that bring home the bacon, what do smart people do in their spare time, what’s exciting them and what are they making. There’s a lot of depth in that statement and something that resonates with me, particularly in light of what’s happening at the Isle of Man Code Club. There are a number of projects there that are based around people’s passions, are innovative and can grow into something useful. So yeah, check out what the nerds are doing over the weekend 🙂